State officials in Russia are to be prevented from buying expensive Mercedes, Lexus and other foreign saloons in order to cut costs and boost the domestic auto industry.

Lines of expensive cars outside the Kremlin and government offices have become a symbol of blatant excess among bureaucrats and the ruling elite. Last year, there was a public outcry when the finance minister of the impoverished Dagestan region published a £180,000 tender for an Audi A8L, while the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, is know for his fleet of Porsche Cayennes.

The initiative comes after Vladimir Putin, the prime minister, visited Tolyatti, the city on the Volga where the Lada is produced, on Wednesday.

Mr Putin announced during the visit that all state departments and enterprises must start buying cars produced in Russia, Belarus or Kazakhstan – which have a common economic space – "in the near future".

The ministry of economic development reacted immediately, saying it would make the prime minister's order enforceable by law within three months. "Bureaucrats will no longer be able to buy an amazing BMW with leather upholstery," said the government newspaper, Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

However, officials will not be obliged to switch to native brands such as the notorious Lada or the larger Volga, which is said to echo its name by handling like a boat. Renaults, Volkswagens and Fords are also produced in Russia.